North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is suing CNN for defamation. Multiple lawyers, including the man who won $1.4 billion from Alex Jones and InfoWars, spoke with WRAL about the lawsuit's chances of success and what more we can expect from legal procedings before the election. Meanwhile, NC voters set a new record for the first day of early voting even amid new efforts to spread misinformation about elections and Hurricane Helene. Some Democratic members of Congress think Russia and China may be behind some of the misinformation; Republican Party officials were also dinged by a federal judge for their own claims about election integrity, which underpinned a lawsuit he said could harm democracy in North Carolina. We catch up on the news surrounding the attorney general race and Michele Morrow's campaign for superintendent of schools, plus former Gov. Pat McCrory's new voter-trust initiative.

NC lawmakers came back to Raleigh this week to pass the first round of relief funding for Helene. The bill, signed into law Thursday, also extends flexibility to boards of election in the 25 counties included under the federal disaster declaration. Meantime, political tempers are rising over misinformation about the state and federal response to the storm and about the security of the upcoming election.

It's been just over a week since CNN reported on comments North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson allegedly made on pornographic website Nude Africa praising Hitler, calling himself a "Black NAZI" and using slurs to talk about Martin Luther King Jr., among other topics. Donald Trump's campaign has since tried to distance itself from the Republican candidate for governor Trump endorsed and has heaped praise upon, and other GOP politicians have called on Robinson to do more to prove his claims that the report is false and the message board comments weren't actually his. Democrats from Josh Stein to Kamala Harris, meanwhile, have ramped up their efforts to tie Robinson to Republican candidates up and down the ballot as the GOP seeks to keep its legislative supermajority. New polling shows some voters are changing their minds, but perhaps not as many as Democrats would like to see.

State lawmakers finally pass a massive school voucher expansion bill, plus new WRAL News poll numbers show a tight presidential race but a widening contest for governor in NC. Also, what are undocumented immigrants actually costing North Carolina taxpayers? 

The NC Board of Elections looks into Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC, while a liberal nonprofit accuses a conservative counterpart of bankrolling a powerful state lawmaker. Plus, the money's rolling in from the first quarter of sports betting in NC , while the state treasurer is sounding the alarm about the fiscal future of the state health plan. 

Joe Biden is out, Kamala Harris is in, and North Carolina's Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is among the top vice presidential candidates for the Harris 2024 campaign. WRAL's state politics team explains the benefits he could bring to the ticket, but also how Republicans might try to use it against Harris. Plus, we cover the lawsuits targeting the NC State Board of Elections over recent decisions to deny Cornel West and approve Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's wife is under scrutiny, after her government-funded nonprofit was ordered to repay $132,000 by state investigators.

There's major turnover in state government with the resignation or retirement of multiple state lawmakers, chiefs of staff and university chancellors. Josh Stein and Mark Robinson are obliterating campaign fundraising records as voters key in on the race to replace Gov. Roy Cooper....who's now at the center of veepstakes rumors. If President Joe Biden shutters his reelection campaign and turns the reins over to Vice President Kamala Harris, could Cooper become her VP pick? That's what lots of political insiders think, and we explain why it could make sense. Meanwhile, following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, polls show Americans have steadily become more willing to accept violence to achieve their political goals. Why it's a problem that can't just be fixed by politicians telling their supporters to tone it down.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke in Greensboro and had high praise for Gov. Roy Cooper, who has been rumored as a potential VP pick if Harris takes over the presidential nomination. We asked Cooper, who said he still supports Joe Biden for president. Meanwhile the State Board of Elections approved the Constitution Party to be on the ballot but not Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Cornel West. Republicans cried foul, but the board does plan to take a vote on West and Kennedy next week. In the race to replace Cooper as governor, Democrat Josh Stein posted a massive new fundraising haul. Republican Mark Robinson has yet to release his own fundraising information. Robinson also called reporters shameful for trying to ask him questions this week, after he made headlines for charged comments and a fundraiser he held with a controversial church.

WRAL's Laura Leslie and Brian Murphy recap a very busy week on Jones St. with the battle over medical marijuana reignited and the House and Senate filing dueling budgets. Plus, a last-minute attempt to regulate vaping products and Cooper's veto of the mask ban. 

North Carolina state lawmakers begin working to outlaw tianeptine, a drug marketed as a mood enhancer or diet supplement that critics call gas station heroin. Predatory roofers and towing companies may face stricter state scrutiny soon, and a bill to force polluters to pay for cleaning up PFAS chemicals from local drinking water supplies also gets a warm reception in the state House. The state budget is on thin ice, with the House and Senate engaging in a rare public fight over how, or whether, to spend a $1 billion surplus that could be used on state worker raises, child care aid or nothing at all. Plus the elections are heating up, with legal fights over gerrymandering and Democrats continuing to focus on abortion, birth control and IVF.